Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
picturephone

picturephone

6.0
A phone that shows you the other person while you talk
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪkʧərˌfoʊn/
  • Archaic
translation icon : videoteléfono
  • With a picturephone, you can see your friends while you talk to them.

Examples

  • The picturephone revolutionized communication by allowing users to have face-to-face conversations from afar.

  • Davey, get the picturephone.

    Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)

  • During the meeting, they used a picturephone to connect with their colleagues in another city.

Synonyms

telephone
vspicturephone
∞ 1.0

A device for talking to people far away

adds live video so users can also see each other during calls
videophone
vspicturephone
7 4.0

A device that lets people see and hear each other when they are far away

emphasizes its role as a calling device that also shows live video

How Visual

to videoconference
  • Texting
3.5
picturephone
  • Archaic
6.0
telephone
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

picturephone singular
picturephones plural

Morphology

picturephone = picture + phone (transparent) = picture + phone

The meaning is a straightforward combination of 'picture' + 'phone' (a telephone that transmits images), which a learner who knows both constituents can infer.

Etymology

The word picturephone is made from the words picture and phone. The phone part comes from an old Greek word meaning 'voice', so a picturephone is literally a 'phone with a picture', which explains why it lets people see each other while they talk.